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ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



AMERICAN WHIG AND CLIOSOPHIC SOCIETIES 



COLLEGE OP NEW JERSEY, 



SEPTEMBER 24, IS 39. 



f ^ BY AARON OGDEN DAYTON, Esa. 



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[-' U.S. 

PRINTED BY ROBERT E. HORNOR. 
1839. 



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EXTRACT FROM THE MINUTES OF THE CLIOWPHIC SOCi- 
ETY, SEPTEMBER 2'), 1839. 
Resolved, That (he thanks of this society be presented to Aaron Ogdf.n 
Dayton, Esq., for his able and interesting address delivered before tlie Ameri- 
can Whig and Cliosophic' Socielifis on yesterday afternoon, and that a copy be 
requested for publication. 

J. S. HART, J 



PROF. J. MACLEAN, 

A. B. DOD, \CommiUee. 



EXTRACT FROM THE MIKUTES OF THE AMERICM" WHIG 

SOCIETY, SEPTEMBER 25tk, 1839. 

Resolved, That a committee be appointed lo present the (banks of the 

American Whig Society to Aaron Ogden Dayton, Esq., for the able and 

eloquent address delivered by him yesterday, and to request a copy of the 

same for publication. 

R. S. FIELD, Esq. 

J. S. GREEN, Esa. }CemmiUfe, 

J. H. RICE, Esq. 



ADDRESS. 



Gentlemen of the American Whig and Cliosophic 

Societies : 

The reflections upon the past and the present, suggested 
by the position which at your request I have consented to 
occupy, affect me with varied and almost conflicting emotions. 
It is dehghtful to see harmoniously assembled as friends and 
brethren the members of opposing associations, who, while 
they practice a generous and wholesome emulation, do not 
forget that they are the children of one mother, whose parental 
feelings would be wounded by any wider separation than is 
necessary for their common improvement. Happy will it be 
for you, my young friends, if you carry with you into the 
walks of life the same magnanimous disposition which reflects 
so much honor upon you here, by treating those with whom, 
in your various pursuits, you may be brought into rivalry, and 
especially those who acknowledge with you the same alma 
mater, with that forbearance and friendly courtesy which no 
difl!erence of opinion or contrariety of interest ought ever to 
preclude. It will not be the least important part of the moral 
discipline for which you will be indebted to this excellent 
institution, if, with other valuable acquisitions, you shall have 
learned, in a day when controversies in politics, in literature, 
and even in religion,areso often degraded by personal asperity, 
to practice "that charity which thinkoth no evil" of an intcl 



6 

lectLial adversary, however widely his sentiments may differ 
from your own, or however resolute he may be in their defence : 
a charity which, let me observe, is not more imperiously re- 
quired by the precepts of Christianity, than it is by a becoming 
dignity of character. Combat arguments and opinions with 
as much zeal and energy as you will, but hold the personal 
reputation and motives of your antagonist as sacred as your 
own ; and the peace of mind, the self respect, the respect of 
mankind, and the increased influence of your reasoning upo-n 
every candid and intelligent mind, which will be the result of 
such a course, will afford you an ample compensation for all 
the exertion that may have been requisite, to resist, in this 
regard, the natural impulses of heated feelings, or the cor- 
rupting effect of vicious example. 

But this harmonious union of literary competitors is not 
the only subject for reflection which renders my appearance 
before you a source of interest and of pleasure. It is a joyous 
and animating spectacle, to behold a choice band of youth, 
trained and equipped for the contest, their hearts throbbing 
with a generous ambition, and their eyes sparkling with hope, 
just about to enter the arena of the world, to contend for the 
prizes that glitter before them in brilliant prospect. From the 
scene before me my thoughts naturally revert to the period, 
now alas ! beheld in distant retrospect, when I myself stood, 
as some of you now stand, with my foot upon the verge of 
busy life, watching with eager eye its fluctuating surface, and 
anxious to embark my fortune upon the tumultuous flood. 
My spirit kindles at the vivid recollection ; and memory, like 
a gleam of sunshine, lighting up the distant view, exhibits to 
me, beyond the wilderness of labor and care through which I 



have passed, scenes and objects that have long been fading on 
my vision, radiant again with the bright hues of youthful 
hope. Recalhng my own feehngs at that interesting period of 
hfe, I sympathize with yours ; and from the bottom of my 
heart I send up the prayer, that your highest expectations may 
be reahzed in that land of promise towards which your eyes 
are now directed in pleased anticipation. Though you meet 
with unforeseen discouragements in life, be of good cheer. 
Difficulties and dangers you must expect to encounter, what- 
ever may bs your avocations; but without opposition you 
cannot enjoy the honors of victory. So far from being dis- 
heartened at the sight of the adversaries that may dispute your 
advance, you should be stimulated to increased exertion. Clad 
in the moral panoply with which you have been here invested, 
you should go forth with courage to the conflict ; trusting 
in Providence, and confident of ultimate success. Multitudes 
have preceded you who are now wearing the crowns they have 
won; and otl.ers are forcing their way to victory ; while your 
youthful successors are pressing you onward to the contest. 
The extraordinary advantages which it has been your fortune 
to enjoy, have imposed upon you a solemn responsibility from 
which you cannot escape. You remember the sentence pro- 
nounced by him who is to be your judge, upon the man who 
buried his talent in the earth. You are bound, and until 
death shall discharge you, will continue bound, to the active 
employment of all your faculties, natural and acquired, in the 
cause of virtue and freedom. Could we lift the veil that hides 
futurity from our view, and trace with prophetic eye the pro- 
gress through life of each of you whom to-morrow's ceremonial 
is to send forth to the cares and fortunes of the world, the 



occasion would assume a magnitude and solemnity, which 
should not indeed repress the sympathetic joy with which we 
come to cheer you at your departure, but which would convey 
to us the seasonable admonition that we should "rejoice with 
trembling.'' Who can fix a limit to the influence, for good or for 
evil, which, at this day, in a country like ours, where know- 
ledge emphatically is power, where public sentiment is the 
great lever by which even the mighty fabric of our government 
may be kept firm upon its base, or upheaved from its founda- 
tion, will be exercised by fourscore young men whose lives 
have been devoted, under the most favorable auspices, to the 
acquirement of that intelligence and those means of persuasion,, 
which are best adapted to give them control over the general 
mind ? In a few years they will be heard, as those who have 
preceded them from this institution are now heard, in the 
senate, at the forum, and in the pulpit; bringing all the force 
of their intellectual endowments to bear upon the destinies of 
nations or individuals : or they will perhaps be sending forth 
from their closets, upon the untiring wings of the press, opinions 
which may affect, through successive ages, the highest 
interests of their fellow men. Who can estimate the glorious 
influence that has emanated from the mind of a Newton, a 
Bacon, or a Locke, and has been silently diffusing itself, like 
the morning light, from the summits of civilization, which it 
first gilded with its rays, to the lowest vales of human exist- 
ence; or who can contemplate without horror the flood of 
evil poured forth from the perverted intellect of a Hume or a 
Yoltaire, rolhng its baleful waters, with ever accumulating 
force, down the channel of ages ? 
But there are other reflections which render this occasion 



one of peculiar interest to him who addresses you. This 
Wcas the home, the Hterary home of his youth. The home 
of his youth ! When I utter these words do I not touch a 
chord in the breast of many a brother who hears nie, that 
vibrates with a responsive strain "pleasant but mournful to 
the soul ?" Which of you has not felt a pensive pleasure steal 
through his frame, and soften his heart, when he has returned 
after a long absence to the scenes of his childhood ? What 
though a stranger may have been found occup;ying the pater- 
nal hearth, and while you searched from face to face, where 
every countenance was once familiar, for the kind smile of 
recognition, you met only the cold gaze of idle curiosity ; did 
not the inanimate objects, endeared to you by early associa- 
tions, appear to greet you at your approach ? Did not the 
ancient tree, under whose shade you had so often sported, 
seem to stretch out its venerable arms to embrace you ? Did 
not the pebbled brook, in which you had so often laved your 
infant feet, seem, with its gentle murmurs, to welcome you 
back to its refreshing bosom ? Did not the moss grown rock, 
upon which you had so often rested your young limbs, weary 
with rambling or with play, seem to invite you again to repose 
upon its velvet covering ? 

Associations more elevated, and still more interesting, are 
suggested by a return to the scenes of college life. Who 
among us, my elder brethren, does not remember, with a 
tenderness of feeling that cannot be expressed, those halcyon 
days of literary seclusion, of untroubled serenity, and social 
enjoyment, which alas ! can never return but in recollection ? 

"Ah miliisi vestrae reddal bona gaudia sedis 
Detqiie Dens docta posse qiiiete fnii ! 
Quails erara cum me traiiquilla mente sedentem 
Vidisti in ripa, Came serene, lua." 



10 

It is pleasant to come up once again from the bustle of busy- 
life, though but a brief period, to this classic retreat. But a 
shade of melancholy passes over my feelings as I look around 
me in vain for the preceptors of my youth, inseparably connected 
in my memory with the scenes that surround me. They are 
gone : and gone too the companions of my college days ; dis- 
persed, never to re-assemble on this side the grave. But though 
I find not here the instructors and companions of my early 
years, thy walls, revered Nassau Hall ! meet my eye like the 
countenance of an old and venerated friend. The sound of 
thy sweet-toned bell, which was wont to call me to study or 
devotion, falls like a familiar voice upon my ear. I hail thee, 
venerable as thou art, from thy age ; the benevolence of thy 
founders ; the wisdom and piety of the long line of thy pre- 
ceptors; and the learning and patriotism of thy distinguished 
sons, who have illumined the history of thy country, for the 
last two centuries, with one tract of light. I rejoice that thy 
fame i^ brightening as thy years advance ; and that thy friends 
may look forward to thy future course, with a hope propor- 
tioned to the pride which they justly feel upon a retrospect of 
the past. 

Brethren of the Societies I address, 

We have each of us an interest in the fame and fortune of 
the graduates of this institution ; and more especially of those 
who have been received as members of our respective associa- 
tions. Such of them as have proved worthy of their Alma 
Mater are entitled to our affectionate respect while living, and 
we are bound to cherish their memory when dead. It is 
known to you that about ten years since a society was 
formed of the alumni of Nassau Hall, for the purpose of 
promoting mutual friendship among the members, and ad- 



11 

vancinsr the interests of the collegfe. At the first meetins: of 
the society, James Madison was elected President, and Aaron 
Ogden, Richard Stockton, Andrew Kirkpatrick, Ashbel Green, 
WiUiam Gaston, John Henry Hobart, and Henry W. Ed- 
wards, Vice Presidents. In the short space of time which 
has since elapsed, it has pleased Providence to remove by 
death all these officers, with the exception of three, who still 
live to reflect additional lustre upon the institution whose 
honors they bear. Instead of presenting to you, on this occa- 
sion, a series of abstract precepts, destitute, as they would 
necessarily be, of the weight which might be derived from 
long experience or profound observation on my part, I have 
thought that the object for which I have appeared before 
you might be best answered, by exhibiting a brief sketch of 
the characters of the departed brethren I have named ; who 
were selected by the alumni as among the most worthy of 
their number, and whose loss we have been called but recently 
to deplore. " Example," say^ Lord Bacon, " is a globe of 
precepts." I wish to hold up these illustrious men to the view 
of our younger brethren as models of the statesman, the 
soldier, the lawyer, the judge, and the divine. To the elder 
part of my auditors I trust it will not be unpleasing to dwell 
for a few moments upon virtues with which most of them 
have been long familiar ; while the melancholy pleasure will 
be mine, of placing, with filial hand, my humble garland upon 
the tombs of those I venerated and loved. 

JAMES MADISON graduated at this institution during the 
presidency of Dr. Witherspoon, in the year 1771, at the age 
of twenty. It was but a few years afterwards, and at a most 
eventful period, that preceptor and pupil met as represcnta- 



12 

lives of tlieir respective states upon the floor of the Federal 
Congress ; ranking, by universal acknowledgment, among the 
most eminent of that illustrious assembly. In 1776, five years 
after he had received his degree, Mr. Madison was elected to 
the Legislature of Virginia; and gave his vote in favor of 
instructing the delegates of that State in Congress to propose 
a Declaration of Independence. Thus commenced the political 
career of this extraordinary man ; which may be said to have 
begun with the first, and closed in triumph with the second, 
war of Independence. It is remarkable that during the year 
for which he was then elected to the Legislature, he took no 
part in the debates of that body ; and that, owing principally 
to this cause, his real merits were so little known to the mass 
of his constituents, that he failed to be re-elected : thus becom- 
ing a martyr to that modest diffidence which so often throws 
a temporary veil over the highest order of talent, only to give 
an additional charm to its beauties when displayed ; indicating 
to the discerning eye the existence of the genius which it 
conceals, as the morning mist which sometimes obscures the 
rays of the sun at his rising, is known to the practised observer 
to be the harbinger of a brilliant day. To the members of 
the legislature, however, it was apparent h'om the first, that 
if Mr. Madison did not manifest shining abilities, he possessed 
those at least which were useful in the transaction of business : 
and but a few months elapsed after the loss of his election, 
before he was chosen by that body a member of the executive 
council. There he continued to serve, with increasing repu- 
tation, until 1779, when he was elected a delegate to the 
Continental Congress. From that time until his appointment 
as Secretary of State by Mr. Jefferson in 1801, scarcely a 



13 

question of general importance arose in any deliberative as- 
sembly of which he was a member, upon which he did not 
pour light from his capacious mind. 

The two most prominent events in American history are 
undoubtedly the Declaration of Independence of 1776, and the 
formation of the Constitution of 1787. When justly viewed, 
the latter, I think, must be acknowledged the greater of the 
two. In saying this, let me not be understood as intending in 
the smallest degree to diminish the admiration and gratitude 
which fill the bosom of every American, at the thought of that 
mighty event, and its mighty authors, which gave birth to our 
nation, and laid the foundation upon which was subsequently 
erected that superstructure, under the protection of which we 
have risen with unparalleled rapidity to the first rank among 
the empires of the world. Never was a more sublime spectacle 
exhibited, in the annals of mankind, than that which was 
presented by the little band of patriots, who had already 
achieved a moral conquest over the power of Great Britain, 
by the exertion of an intellectual energy which made iheir 
royal oppressor tremble on his throne, now hopeless of peace- 
ful redress, with hands joined in fraternal union and eyes 
iiphfted to Heaven, mutually pledging their lives, their for- 
tunes, and their honor, that wliat argument had failed to 
accomplish the sword should effect : that though the fleets of 
the tyrant should line their shores, and swarms of his troops 
should cover their land, the people of the colonies, few in 
number, without an army or a navy, destitute of pecuniary 
resources, and scattered over a large extent of country, should 
nevertheless be free. My tongue would " cleave to the roof of 
my mouth," should I attempt to disparage the noble intrepidity 



14 

with which the Declaration was -made, or the persevering 
energy and valor by which it was maintained. The 4th of 
July, 1776, was a glorious day : and when we forget to cele- 
brate it, with " guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations,"* but 
above all, when we cease to be thankful to Heaven that such 
a day was vouchsafed to us, we shall deserve to be slaves. 
But great as was this event, the establishment of the Constitu- 
tion was still more important ; whether considered in reference 
to the difficulties encountered, the evils prevented, or the direct 
consequences which it produced. The Declaration of Inde- 
pendeuce was an assertion of rights which were alleged to be 
self-evident, and a statement of the wrongs which the "colonies 
had suffered from the mother country. It did not profess to 
contain any newly discovered principles, or to be the result of 
any deep reflection upon the science of government. It was 
chiefly signalized by the courage and self-devotion which 
inspired it, and by the strong and luminous style in which the 
grievances the colonies had suffered were promulgated to the 
world. But the formation of the Constitution of 1787 was the 
discovery of a new world in political science ; which the 
observation and reflection of the adventurers had taught them 
to look for, and of which they had deliberately gone in search. 
It was the accomplishment of what had never before been 
done, though often attempted — the foundation of a confederated 
republic upon a firm and durable basis. The great problem 
for solution had been, not ' whether the people had a right to 
govern themselves,' but ' how they could govern themselves.' 
This problem was solved by our Constitution, It was a work 

* Letter of John Adams, written the day after the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence was agreed to by Congress, 



15 

of the profonndest wisdom, and the purest patriotism ; carried 
on amid discouragements which rendered its completion nearly 
hopeless, and consummated, in its final adoption by the dele- 
gates and by the states, through an almost visible interposition 
of that Divine Power, whose special aid had, at a most critical 
period, been earnestly and devoutly implored. 

The Declaration of Independence relieved us from tyranny 
and oppression which justly provoked a spirit of resistance, 
and the removal of which was worth all the expenditure of 
blood and treasure which it cost. But what would the liberty 
thus acquired have availed, without a constitution to secure 
and perpetuate its blessings ? Tyrannized over and oppressed 
as the colonies were by the British king, they nevertheless 
enjoyed a measure of freedom and prosperity, which was hap- 
piness itself when compared with the licentiousness with which 
at the close of the revolution the states were threatened. When 
the pressure of a common enemy had ceased to operate upon 
the independent members of the old confederation, they were 
ready to fall apart by their own weight. It seemed as if liber- 
ty had been acquired only to be abused. In many of the 
states all sense of honor and good faith was fast disappearing. 
The general government was so feeble, that it could exercise 
no salutary influence ; and so insignificant did it appear in the 
eyes of foreign governments, that they refused to negotiate 
with it. What though the several states had each its own go- 
vernment nominally republican and free; it availed them little 
without the means of uniting their power and interests in one 
compact whole. They were but separate and distinct parts 
of one great machine, which, for want of the balance wheel 
that was afterwards supplied in the constitution, were in hourly 



IG 

danger of coming into collision, and destroying eaeh other. 
They were planets, each indeed revolving on its own centre, 
but without the great sun of the system, under whose influ- 
ence they now move in their orbits with such beautiful har- 
mony, they would long since have "shot madly from their 
spheres," and rushed together in chaotic confusion. It was 
evident to all that the old confederation could not accomplish 
the purposes for which it was designed ; and the question was 
already agitated of forming several distinct empires from among 
the states. But for the timely remedy of existing evils which 
was afforded by the constitution, this country, now so prosper- 
ous and happy, would, in all probability, have become the seat 
of civil conflicts, more sanguinary than those under which the 
South American states have been writhing in agony, almost 
without intermission, since they declared themselves free ; un- 
til the whole would have fallen under the dominion of some 
military chieftain, or been subjugated by some foreign ally. 
Instead of the vast and beautiful expanse upon which the eye 
of the patriot and the phflanthropist now delights to dwell, 
covered with fruitful fields, with smiling villages, and splendid 
cities, with its swelling tide of population flowing wave after 
wave, into the surrounding wilderness, making the desert every 
where at its approach "rejoice and blossom like the rose;" the 
friends of freedom would have had to mourn over a country, 
so nobly redeemed jfrom foreign thraldom, drenched in the 
blood of its own children, ravaged and depopulated by intes- 
tine wars, rent by anarchy, or crushed by despotism. Such 
are the evils from V7hich,in all human probability, these states, 
now united and happy, were saved by the constitution. 

Upon the consequences of its adoption it is hardly necessary 



17 

to remark. Not to speak of the unrivalled prosperity of our 
own country, he must be blind indeed, who does not see them 
operating, with a silent powerful influence, in every nation of 
the civilized world. Popular rights and popular influence are 
every where attracting more regard. The people every where 
begin to feel their strength, to extend their intelligence, and to 
claim a share at least in their own government. In some of 
the countries of the old world, popular institutions have been 
established ; and even in those subjected to despotic sway, un- 
wonted deference is now paid to popular opinion. The sleep- 
ing lion has been aroused, and is breaking his bonds. The 
kings of the earth are appalled at his power ; and it requires 
not the ken of inspiration to see, that if no unpropitious acci- 
dent should occur to interrupt the course of free government 
in this country, a century Vv^ill not elapse before the people of 
the whole European continent will be governed by their own 
representatives. These are the growing fruits of the Ameri- 
can Constitution. Without it the declaration and acknowledcr- 
ment of our independence would only have added another to 
the many proofs which were supposed to exist, of the incapa- 
city of the mass of the people for their own government. They 
would have furnished a powerful argument in favor of the di- 
vine right of kings, whom they would have led to believe, 
that it was charity to rule those who could not govern them- 
selves. A chill would have been struck to the hearts of the 
friends of freedom throughout the world; who would have 
lamented that our patriotic fathers had the courage to declare, 
and the energy to establish, an independence which they had 
not the wisdom to secure. 

With this constitution and its great results, it was the glory 

3 



18 

of James Madison, a graduate of this institution, and a mem- 
ber of one of the Hterary societies I am now addressing, to be 
identified. He maybe said, without injustice to his great con- 
temporaries, to have had a more effective agency in its forma- 
tion than any other individual. He first brought the subject 
forward in the house of delegates of Virginia, in 1785. He 
was a member of the convention which was held at Annapolis, 
in 1786, He was one of the representatives of his state in 
the federal congress which seconded the recommendation of 
the delegates who mot at Annapolis, that another convention 
should be held in Philadelphia. He urged the appointment of 
delegates to that body by the legislature of Virginia, and en- 
deavored to obtain the consent of Gen. Washington to be 
placed at their head. Of that convention it is known to every 
one that he was a leading member : and it now appears, that, 
in addition to the prodigious mental labor of originating many 
and discussing most of the important questions that came be- 
fore that body, he took accurate notes of all the debates. When 
the anxious labors of the convention had terminated in the 
formation of the present constitution, and the result of their 
deliberations had been submitted to the states for their ratifica- 
tion, under circumstances of doubt and discouragement which 
made every friend of the union tremble with apprehension, 
the mind of Mr. Madison was engaged in urging its adoption, 
by the composition of those celebrated papers, whose fame is 
co-extensive with that of the constitution itself, and by his 
speeches in the Virginia convention, where he was called to 
contend with the powerful eloquence and high reputation of 
Patrick Henry. Mr. Madison also proposed to the first con- 
gress most of the amendments which were made to the con- 



19 

stitution after its ratification ; and he was an influential mem- 
ber of the successive congresses, by which the several acts 
were passed for giving it construction and carrying it into 
effect. Conspicuous as he was in the organization of the go- 
vernment, he was not less distinguished by the ability with 
which he defended it from foreign aggressors. At the period 
during which he filled the office of Secretary of State, the ex- 
traordinary situation of affairs in Europe, and our peculiar 
position in relation to the great powers of that quarter of the 
globe, required the discussion of a series of important ques- 
tions respecting international rights,such as will probably never 
again arise, in the same compass -of time, in the course of our 
existence as a nation. The documentary history of that day 
is fuM of proofs, that the American Secretary, among the emi- 
nent statesmen of the old world whom he was called to encoun- 
ter, never met his superior. He was raised to the Presidential 
chair in 1808 : and before the close of his first term, the event 
came which he had so long labored with all the powers of his 
mind to prevent — war with the most powerful nation of Eu- 
rope, Many of the friends of the constitution looked to this 
event as the severest test it would have to undergo; while its 
enemies, both at home and abroad, confidently predicted that 
the whole structure would fidl with the first assault of foreign 
hostility. Even recently, a European writer, who in many 
respects has done justice to our institutions, has expressed the 
opinion, with experience to the contrary stariug him in the 
face, that the union of the states, however strong in time of 
peace, must necessarily be weak and liable to dissolution in 
time of war. Madison entered, with unwavering confidence, 
the conflict into which the country had been forced ; brought 



20 

to its support all the energy of his character, and all the re- 
sources of his mind ; and just before his withdrawal from the 
cares and honors of political life, saw the close of the contest, 
with a feeling of joy and triumph he had never before experi- 
enced, but upon the adoption of the constitution, the duration 
of which was now sealed, to the satisfaction of the most scep- 
tical of its friends. The remainder of his life was passed in 
literary and rural retirement ; with the exception of a few days, 
during which he was prevailed on to lend his presence and 
counsel as a member of the Convention which revised the con- 
stitution of Virginia : and, three years since, he descended to 
the grave, in the fulness of age and of glory. 

Such, my young friends, was the enviable career of the first 
President of the Society of Alumni of this institution. Of all 
the great men that our country has produced, and whose loss 
it has had to deplore, there is probably no one who was for so 
long a time so intimately connected with its most important 
concerns ; and there is certainly none that I could hold up to 
your imitation as a more perfect model of an American states- 
man. It is difficult to say whether he was better fitted to 
sustain this character by his qualities of intellect or disposition. 
His natural talents, though not of a brilliant character, were 
yet of a very high order. Destitute, in a great measure, of 
that fertility of imagination and quickness of sensibility which 
enter into our ideas of genius, he possessed, in a high degree, 
those most valuable endowments of a great statesman, a sound 
judgment and strong powers of reasoninj^. These natural 
faculties were cultivated and strengthened by constant exer- 
cise, by a careful study of political science, and by a profound 
observation of passing events. Of our own constitution and 



laws no one had a more thorough knowledge, for no one had 
a larger share in framing them. To this great work he not 
only brought all his native powers of understanding, but, 
mindful of the value of past experience to correct the errors of 
the most plausible speculation, he tested every measure by the 
principles he had carefully extracted from the history of exist- 
ing and pre-existing governments, both of the ancient and 
modern world. His speeches abound with the sagest maxims; 
and present instances of almost preternatural insight into 
future events. The principle which is so urgently and 
solemnly impressed upon the American people in Washing- 
ton's farewell address, and to a reverential regard for which 
so much of our national prosperity may justly be attributed, 
that we should scrupulously abstain from all intermixture 
with the politics of Europe, was first suggested in a speech 
delivered by Mr. Madison as early as 1778, before the Yirginia 
convention for ratifying the constitution : and the same speech 
contains a most remarkable prediction of the war into which 
we were twenty-four years afterwards impelled ; and of one 
of the principal causes which led to it, arising out of our neu- 
tral relation to two belligerent powers, which, at the time the 
prediction was uttered, were at peace with each other. Mr. 
Madison was gifted by nature with a temperament which, 
favored and established by careful moral culture, gave to his 
talents all the force and influence of which they were suscep- 
tible. He displayed that most happy union of mildness and 
firmness, which gives grace and strength to a public man. He 
possessed that calm contemplative disposition, and habitual 
self-command, which led him to look at every subject dispas- 
sionately and without prejudice, and to bring to its considera- 



22 

tion, and to the support of his opinion when formed, the unen- 
cumbered powers of his strong- intellect. His eloquence was 
such as becomes a modern statesman : not of that bold dazzlinsr 
cliaracter, which is best fitted to sway a popular assembly, 
where immediate action is the object; but calm, argumenta- 
tive, persuasive, dignified, chaste ; such as befits a select 
assembly of men chosen from the mass of the community for 
their superior intelligence, to decide upon questions of great 
difficulty and moment, and who are expected to deliberate 
before they act. Of this most valuable sort of eloquence, Mr, 
Madison's speeches are specimens of which his country may 
be proud ; and the proceedings of the Virginia convention 
will show that even the brilliant and impassioned oratory of a 
Henry could not successfully resist their pow«r. As a diplo- 
matist, he always exhibited that candor and directness of pur- 
pose winch are in consistency with the republican qharacter 
of our government ; never concealing his own object, or seek- 
ing to obtain a covert advantage from his adversary. A purer 
patriot never existed. His ambition was of the most elevated 
character ; and was so completely identified with his love of 
country, that the two could not be distinguished. Every act 
which contributed to his advancement, seemed designed only 
for the good of his country. He never sacrificed principle to 
popularity. He was never known, in a single instance in his 
long career, to resort to iiitrigue or stratagem, or even to make 
any personal effort, of the most ordinary and admissible cha- 
racter, with a view solely to his own political aggrandizement. 
It may be truly said of him (and of how few can it be said !) 
that honor and office sought him, not he honor or office. And 
yet few men have risen more rapidly. He ascended, by the 



buoyancy of his own merit, steadily and majestically, to the 
zenith of fame and distinction : and after remaining for a 
while, self-poised and secure, at the highest point of elevation 
to which human worth or human ambition can rise, he de- 
scended gracefully to the level of private station, accomf anied 
by the admiration and benedictions of a grateful country. 
The close of a life so unsullied and useful could not but be 
honored and happy. Whatever harshness or uncharitableness 
the people of this country may at times exhibit, during the 
heat of party conflict, towards their public men, it must in 
justice be admitted, that they have always manifested a grate- 
ful recollection and a due reverence towards those, who, after 
having faithfully served them in the highest office within 
their gift, have retired from political life. Mr. Madison's 
declining years were watched by his countrymen with filial 
anxiety. His sun descended below the horizon without a 
cloud ; and all eyes, even those which turned away from its 
meridian splendor, gazed with delight upon the mild lustre of 
its setting. 

The talents and disposition of Mr. Madison led him to civil 
pursuits : the genius of AARON OGDEN, the next distin- 
guished alumnus whose character I am to bring to your no- 
tice, was decidedly military. To the last year of his life, it 
glowed in his eye ; it was seen in his erect carriage, and 
measured though tottering step ; it animated his conversation ; 
and in the visions of his dying bed, transported him back, as 
it did the great exile of St. Helena, to the stirring scenes of the 
army and the camp. He graduated in the year 1773, as a 
member of a class which, from the number of twenty-nine of 
which it consisted, furnished three governors of states, and 



- 24 

three presidents of colleges. After leaving this institution he 
engaged himself as an assistant to Mr. Francis Barber, who 
was the teacher- of a celebrated grammar school at Elizabeth- 
town in this state, at which the late General Hamilt©n, Brock- 
hoist Livingston, and others distinguished in the history of 
our country received, in whole or in part, their elementary 
education. But the times were too exciting for spirits like his 
to content themselves with civil pursuits, or with an occasional 
expedition against the enemy. The crisis had arrived when 
the most vigorous efforts must be made, or the cause of liberty 
be lost. The disastrous events of the preceding campaign, 
the almost entire destruction or dispersion of the American 
army, the retreat of its miserable remains before their exulting 
pursuers, the disaffection which had consequently spread 
among those whom timidity or selfishness made mere waiters 
upon events, and the- absence of all succor from abroad, had 
driven the friends of freedom to the brink of despair ; when the 
Commander-in-Chief, by one of the master strokes of his mighty 
mind, achieved in part within sight of the place where we are 
now assembled, for a time confounded his adversaries, and 
lighted up a gleam of hope in the eyes of his countrymen. 
The Congress and the General saw the importance of the junc- 
ture ; and they called in the most earnest and supplicating 
tones upon those who were not willing to be slaves, to come 
forth to the rescue. The appeal was not unheeded. Many a 
spark of military fire which had lain dormant, unknown even 
to its possessor, was fanned into a flame at this moment of 
reviving enthusiasm. From the farm, the workshop, the office 
of the professional man, the closet of the student, the seminary 
of learning, the defenders of their country sprang forth armed. 



25 

Many a brave heart leaped with ardor at this summons to the 
field, which ceased to beat long before the object of its aspira- 
tions had been accompHshed : few indeed were permitted so 
long to exult in ihe glories and rewards of their patriotic valor, 
as the lamented brother whose memory is now our theme. In 
the spring of 1777 the school of Mr. Barber was broken up ; 
and principal and assistant both entered the army, the one as 
a major the other as a captain. Time will not permit me to 
follow the young officer who is the subject of my remarks 
through the various events of his military career; in all of 
which he exhibited the spirit and enthusiasm of youth, admi- 
rably tempered by the caution and judgment of age. He was 
at the battles of Brandywine, Monmouth, and Springfield, and 
at the siege of Yorktown. The best proof of his merits is the 
confidence which his commanding officers universally reposed 
in him. At Monmouth he received the personal direction of 
General Vv^ashington, at the most critical period of the engage- 
ment, to reconnoitre an important position ; and upon his 
report, the commander-in-chief gave to the American army the 
order to advance, which determined the result of the action. 
Captain Ogden was afterwards appointed by General Maxwell 
his aid-de-camp : and such was the opinion entertained of him 
by that officer, that while he acted in that capacity, and sub- 
sequently as brigade major, he had nearly if not quite as large 
a share in the command of the brigade as the general himself. 
He distinguished himself at the battle of Springfield, by hold- 
ing a very superior force of the enemy for some time in check ; 
and more particularly by his judicious disposition of the mili- 
tia, who at a later period of the engagement were subjected 
wholly to his command. In 1780 he was chosen from the 

4 



26 

whole army by General Washington to go upon a most deli- 
cate and interesting mission to the British lines, the purpose 
of which was to eifect, if possible, an exchange of Arnold for 
Andre. The object, it is well known, was not accomplished ; 
but the duty entrusted to Captain Ogden was performed with 
the utmost skill and address, and in a manner entirely satis- 
factory to his commander. At the siege of Yorktown, General 
La Fayette, being called upon by Washington to select an 
officer for the command of the detachment which was to 
storm one of the famous redoubts in advance of the enemies' 
line, made choice of Colonel Barber ; and Captain Ogden was 
chosen to head that part of the detachment which was to 
intercept the retreat of the garrison to the main body of the 
enemy : but when the young officer had made himself tho- 
roughly acquainted with the expected scene of action, and, 
confident of success, was burning with anticipation of the dan- 
gerous but honorable service he was to perform, Colonel 
Hamilton claimed, as his right according to the routine of 
duty, the command that had been assigned to Colonel Barber ; 
and the direction of the party which was to cut off the retreat 
of the garrison fell in consequence to another officer, who was 
unsuccessful in the object for which he was appointed. Cap- 
tain Ogden was nevertheless engaged in the attack, and, sword 
in hand, contended with the bravest who should be the first to 
enter the redoubt. Upon this occasion also, his conduct re- 
ceived the particular approbation of General Washington. 

With the close of the war, at the age of twenty-five, his 
military career may be said to have ended. He had borne 
his full share of the toils, the perils, and the sacrifices of the 
contest ; and he now participated in that act of unparalleled 



27 

patriotism, before which the brightest achievement of the war- 
rior pales its lustre ; by which the officers of the Revolution, 
with just claims against the country they had saved unsatis- 
fied, and with power in their hands to enforce them, laid down 
their swords voluntarily upon the altar of freedom, and retired, 
most of them in poverty, to the shades of private life. It was 
a painful and mortifying spectacle to see the subject of these 
remarks, nearly half a century afterwards, with hoary head 
and limbs trembling with age, supplicating, for himself and 
his few surviving comrades, the satisfaction of these claims 
from the public representatives of a nation, which had grown 
up to be a mighty empire from the seed which the hands of 
those suppliants had planted, and their blood had watered. 
The talents exhibited in the campaigns of the Revolution by 
the young officer of whom we are speaking were not forgotten 
by his seniors ; and when in 1797 it was thought necessary, 
from the threatening attitude of France, to increase the military 
establishment of the United States, he received the command 
of a regiment, which he held until the prospect of war had 
ceased and the army shortly before raised was disbanded. 
During the last war with Great Britain, Mr. Madison tendered 
to him a commission as Major General. This event rekindled 
the military ardor which had animated his youth. The tented 
field, the martial array, the exciting conflict, and *'al] the 
pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious war," presented 
themselves anew to his vision. The chivalrous youth of New 
Jersey clustered around, eager to attend him to the scenes of 
anticipated glory; and he resolved once more to gird on the 
sword which had so long slept in its scabbard. But counsel- 
lors whose opinion he had been accustomed to reverence 



28 

urged him to decline ; and their advice prevailed. They af- 
terwards saw and acknowledged their error; but the opportu- 
nity, upon which hung the destinies of his life, was g'one, and 
could not be recalled. What would have been the result of a 
different determination it is impossible for us to say : but those 
friends who knew him best, have ever cherished the belief, 
that it would have encircled with a halo of glory and prospe- 
rity, a head, which, at no distant period, was bowed almost to 
the dust with misfortune and persecution. During his short 
early career in the army of the Revolution, Colonel Ogden 
evinced the possession, in a high degree, of the heroic and pas- 
sive virtues which go to make up the character of a soldier ; 
and of the talents which constitute the great commander, with 
the exception, perhaps, of the power of rapid and judicious 
combination upon an extensive scale, which he had not the op- 
portunity to exercise, but which those who were well acquaint- 
ed with him know was conspicuous in the general character 
of his mind. He exhibited an active courage, a patient endu- 
rance of hardships, a quick and discriminating judgment, an 
unsleeping vigilance, an ardent devotion to the service, a strict 
regard to discipline. That high sense of honor and chival- 
rous courtesy of demeanor which add such lustre to the mili- 
tary character, marked his deportment through life. Were I 
permitted to trace him through the various scenes of his revo- 
lutionary service, I could show you these qualities displayed 
as occasion called them forth ; and especially could I point 
you to an united exhibition of them all in the memorable 
campaign in Virginia, during which he commanded the in- 
fantry of M'Pherson's legion, composed of troops selected by 
La Fayette from his whole army, and ever placed at the point 



29 

of greatest danger. His participation in the hardships, the 
perils, the difficulties, and the triumphs of that campaign, was 
a crown of honor upon his youthful brow, which a veteran 
might have been proud to wear. 

He was for a long time President of the state society of 
Cincinnati of New Jersey : and, a few years since, he received 
from his surviving fellow officers of the Revolution the highest 
tribute to his merit which they could pay, and the most grate- 
ful that he could receive, in his appointment to the Presidency 
of the general Society; a place which, honored and distin- 
guished as it is in itself, was rendered still more illustrious 
from having been filled by Washington, Hamilton, and Pinck- 
ney ; and by Washington, Hamilton, and Pinckney alone. 

In speaking to you of the last President of the Alumni of 
our Institution, it has best suited my plan to present in the 
strongest relief his character as a soldier: but I should do 
great injustice to his memory, and to my own feelings, were I 
to leave yon to infer that he was only in this respect conspicu- 
ous and a model for your imitation. He was eminent also as 
a scholar, a statesman, and a lawyer. He was an ardent ad- 
mirer of the ancient classical authors ; and his conversation 
with literary friends was frequently embellished by ready and 
felicitous quotations from their works. He is one among many 
proofs of the great advantage a student derives from becoming 
an instructor of others. His critical knowledge and accurate 
recollection of the classics he always attributed principally to 
that cause. The taste never forsook him ; and often led him 
back, during the busiest part of his life, to the fountain at 
which he had drunk with so much pleasure in his early years. 
He had always a lively perception and enjoyment of literary 
excellence ; and in 1S16 he received the highest literary degree. 



30 

From 1801 to 1803 he served as a senator in the congress 
•of the United States. The reports of the debates in the se- 
nate at that day are so scanty, as scarcely to afford the means 
of judging of the comparative merit of the several speakers : 
but Col. Ogden is understood to have held a high standing in 
that body, which then contained a large share of talent, num- 
bering among its members Nicholas and Mason of Virginia, 
Breckenridge of Kentucky, Mason of Massachusetts, and Mor- 
ris of New York. For many years he was the leader of one 
of the great political parties in New Jersey ; and upon its at- 
taining a temporary ascendancy in 1812, he was chosen gover- 
nor of the state. He entered upon the office at a most im- 
portant period ; and during his continuance in it, he discharged 
its duties with the utmost vigor and efficiency. Although he 
had opposed the declaration of war against Great Britain, he 
ioved his country too well to permit its soil to be violated by 
an invading enemy, when he had in his power the means of 
resistance ; and while he held the command of the militia of 
New Jersey, he stood ready at any moment to order them into 
the field at the call of the general government. 

As a statesman and a politician he was distinguished ; but 
the prime of his life was devoted to the study and practice of 
the legal profession. At the bar of New Jersey he occupied 
for many years a conspicuous place in the foremost rank. One 
indeed there was, of whom I am hereafter to speak, that stood 
"proudly eminent above the rest:'' but, he excepted, the sub- 
ject of my remarks, if he had his equals, had no superior. 
Possessing strong analytical and logical powers of mind, his 
disposition always led him to an examination of the principles 
by which a case was governed ; and having made himself 
master of these, he reasoned from them with great clearness 



31 

and force, and was seldom surprised or thrown off his balance 
by the argument of his adversary. Although his first reliance 
was upon a knowledge of the elements which entered into the 
question he was called on to discuss, he was by no means neg- 
hgent of the cases in which those elements had been applied. 
Seldom was there a more industrious lawyer. He never thought 
his duty discharged to his client or to himself, while a single 
corner of the case committed to his care remained unexplored. 
He studied the cause on both sides, and made most copious 
notes of his argument and authorities. To learning and in- 
dustry he united great ingenuity and fertility of resources, 
quickness and accuracy of discrimination, and an eloquence 
which at times, when he was deeply moved or strongly ex- 
cited, was of a very high order. His manner was graceful and 
imposing; his voice, though not musical, was strong and va- 
ried; his countenance had great power and diversity of ex- 
pression ; but, more than all this, he understood well the springs 
of human action. He was an enthusiastic admirer, and might 
almost be called a pupil, of Shakspeare, whose works he was 
never weary of perusing. The power of his eloquence was 
never perhaps more signally displayed, than when, after having 
in a great measure abandoned his profession, he was contend- 
ing for his own rights, against those by whom he considered 
himself wronged and oppressed. Every thing contributed, at 
that period, to rouse him to exertion. The great importance 
of the questions involved, a firm conviction of the justice of 
his claims, a deep sense of personal injury, the resistance of a 
proud spirit against tyrannical oppression, his fortune and the 
happiness of his family at stake upon the issue, all conspired 
to call forth his utmost efforts. Every energy of body and 



32 

mind was brought into action. He flew from point to point 
with such rapiditjT-, that, hke Napoleon on the first invasion of 
France by the allied armies, he seemed possessed of the power 
of ubiquity; now sending his thrilling appeals for aid to the 
hearts of his fellow citizens of New Jersey ; now thundering 
'jLAi. at the gate of the citadel which power and influence had 
^wL erected against him in the eapitei of New York. Friendless 
and unsupported save by his own energy and the strength of 
his cause, he appeared before the legislature of that State urging 
them to repeal one of their own laws as unconstitutional. He 
had to contend with the influence of Fulton, then at the height 
of his popularity ; and of the powerful family with which he 
was connected both by kindred and interest. Pride and pre- 
judice were arrayed against Mm, as the assailant of an act of 
gratitude towards a citizen, in whom the state exulted as the 
greatest inventor and benefactor of modern times. It was 
honorable to his eloquence, that, making his way through a 
host of enemies, he carried his measure in the House of Assem- 
bly, and failed by but one vote to carry it through the Senate. 
Although he was unsuccessful, his defeat was a triumph. His 
opponents trembled at the power of his single arm. In the 
words of the Coriolanus of his favorite Shakspeare he might 
have exclaimed : 

'■" Like an eagle in a dove cote, 
I fluttered your Volsces in Coiiolt. 
Alone I did it." 

It was honorable to him also as a lawyer, that he made this 
bold stand ao^ainst a legislative act, which has since, upon a 
dispassionate hearing before the Supreme Court of the Union, 
been annulled, upon the very ground which at that early 



33 

period he assumed. But his eflbrts to sustain himself, mighty 
as they were, proved finally ineffectual. He made a few strug- 
gles more, but they were unavailing. His fortune was sunk 
his spirits were broken, domestic affliction supervened, and he 
never recovered the ground from which he fell. You who 
saw him only in his latter days, saw him not as I once knew 
him. You beheld an old man battered by the storms of per- 
secution ; great, indeed, in age and adversity. You saw a 
ruin riven by the thunderbolt, and dilapidated by time, though 
stately in its decay. I remember when that ruin was a 
majestic edifice. The aged and afflicted man whom you be- 
held, I remember before the hand of death had invaded his 
dwelling, and the still more ruthless hand of persecution had 
despoiled him of his fortune and his peace. Exulting in the 
full vigor of a powerful intellect, possessing a widely extended 
reputation, having the means of affluence at his command, 
blest more than most men with all that gives charm to domes- 
tic life, he was the pride of his friends and the joy of the social 
circle. How his countenance beamed with animation and 
pleasure, when throwing off" in an instant, as he was wont to 
do, the cares of business, he joined the family circle, and united 
in dispensing the unbounded hospitality of which in his pros- 
perous days it was ever the delightful centre ! But. his perse- 
cutors came ; and all this scene of happiness disappeared like 
the fancy work of a dream. The victim was singled out for 
sacrifice, and followed with unrelenting fury. Like a noble 
lion hemmed in by savage hunters, he turned upon his pur- 
suers, and kept them for a while at bay : but the toils were at 
length thrown over him, and these eyes beheld the aged cap- 
tive, with the frosts of more than seventy winters upon his 



24 

head, looking out from the gratings of a prison. During his 
last years he was saved from destitution by the liberality, or 
rather, by the justice, of his country : but the rapacity of his 
creditors ceased not to fallow him, until his venerable head, 
which during life was not permitted to lie down in peace, sunk 
to its final repose where " the wicked cease from troubling and 
the weary are at rest." 

The next of the deceased officers of the Alumni, of whose 
character I am to speak, I wish to present to you in the single 
light of an eminent jurist. It was one of the chief sources of 
his eminence, and a striking proof of his wisdom, that he con- 
centrated his extraordinary powers upon one object. The 
younger members of the profession who looked op to him for 
advice, he uniformly and earnestly warned against suffering 
themselves to be diverted from their regular pursuit by the 
glitter of political preferment ; which has dazzled and fatally 
misled so many of the most promising youth of our country. 
The late KICHARD STOCKTON, to whom I allude, pos- 
sessed talents, which, if he had chosen to become a public 
man, would undoubtedly have ranked him among the first 
statesmen of the day. He was distinguished as a statesman. 
Twice he consented to serve his country in Congress, at 
periods of critical importance which appeared to him to call 
for a sacrifice of his own interest and inclination. From 1706 
to 1799, when he had barely passed the constitutional age, he 
was a member of the Senate of the United States ; and from 
1S13 to 1815 he was in the House of Representatives. I have 
already mentioned tliat the early debates in the Senate were 
so imperfectly reported, as to afford but a slender criterion of 
the relative merits of the disputants : but the speeches of Mr. 



Stockton ill the House of Representatives, at a later period, 
made an impression which all who were interested in the poli- 
tical discussions of that day will recollect ; and a portion of 
one of them is inserted, as a model of eloquence, in the ele- 
mentary books that are used in our schools. But his ambition 
and his labor were to attain eminence in his profession : and 
so completely was his fame in other respects eclipsed by his 
high reputation as a lawyer, that, whether justice to his memory 
or the usefulness of his example be considered, he should be 
exhibited solely in that character in which he stood forward 
in such bold relief. I cannot better convey to you an idea of 
his pre-eminent abilities as a lawyer, than by adverting to the 
foct that for thirty or forty years before his death he was, by 
universal admission, at the head of the New Jersey bar : a bar 
which during the greater portion of the period I have men- 
tioned, it may safely be said, was not excelled in learning or 
eloquence by any in the Union. Whatever might be the rival 
claims of others, no one pretended to dispute the palm with 
him. He towered as conspicuously, though not with the same 
degree of superiority, above his surrounding brethren, as Ci- 
cero above his colleagues of the Roman forum. And what 
were the sources of his acknowledged greatness? They were 
a sound practical judgment, strong powers of reasoning, a 
plain manly eloquence, a diligent devotion to his profession, a 
bold independent spirit, the highest integrity of character, and 
a happy union of frankness, dignity, and courtesy of manners. 
His intellect was of a gigantic mould, and grasped with Hercu- 
lean strength any subject that presented itself. His judgment 
never was disturbed by the false lights of imagination. His 
fancy was naturally so limited, or else so entirely subdued, that 



3G 

he rarely made use of figurative language. Sparing as he was 
of ornament, and seldom as he resorted to pathos, in his ad- 
dresses to a jury, he was nevertheless a most successful and 
interesting advocate. His arguments at bar in support of 
his legal opinions were for the most part irresistible : and even 
in cases at nisi prius which afforded the widest scope for ap- 
peals to the feelings of the jurors, he was a dreaded adversary. 
The most eloquent and impassioned oratory of an antagonist 
was paralyzed by his direct and powerful-appeals to the under- 
standing and the sense of justice of his hearers ; and the snares 
of sophistry he trampled down and crushed with his mighty 
tread. His vision was. as minute as it was extended; and 
penetrated the obscurest labyrinths of the most intricate cause. 
He was scarcely more remarkable for the clearness of his own 
comprehension, than for the felicity with which he eommuni- 
cated his ideas to others. Arranging his thoughts in the most 
easy and natural order, rejecting all irrelevant matter, and 
clothing his sentiments in the simplest language, many a cause 
was won by his mere statement before the argument com- 
menced. To his extraordinary natural endovx^ments his pro- 
fessional success is no doubt in part to be attributed ; but much 
more to the assiduity with which the gifts of nature had been 
cultivated. It seems to be a law of the moral as of the physical 
world, that great solidity and strength are the result of slow 
growth. So backward was the mind of Mr. Stockton in 
attaining its maturity, that after he had completed his college 
term, an effort was made by his father to obtain for him a 
situation in a counting house, under an impression that he was 
deficient in talents for the bar. How different was his destiny ! 
Not mafty years had elapsed when the unpromising youth had 



37 

not only mastered the first difficulties of tlie arduous pursuit 
for which he was thought incompetent, but had risen above all 
his competitors, and stood at the summit of the profession. 
From the commencement to the close of his career, he was a 
diligent student. It was not only his business, but his delight, 
to explore, with his note book by his side, the rich recesses of 
the black letter folios which are so seldom visited by the mo- 
dern student ; and the reports of Lord Coke were the recrea- 
tion of his hours of'leisure. But in no respect, perhaps, were 
the strength of his character and his practical wisdom more 
clearly evinced, than in his steady adherence to his profession, 
for such a length of years, to the exclusion of every other ob- 
ject; unseduced by the glare of political advancement, or the 
flattering promises of pecuniary speculation, by which so many 
of his colleagues were lured from the path that was con- 
ducting them to substantial fame and affluence, and plunged 
into irretrievable embarrassment and distress. His moral cha- 
racter was as elevated as his intellectual ; and his personal 
appearance and manners were in harmony with both. No 
one who ever saw him but was struck with his majestic air, 
his fine expanse of forehead, his full dark eye, and a sublimity 
of the whole countenance which awed and yet attracted the 
beholder ; impressing him with the idaa of great strength of 
understanding, united with great goodness of heart. There 
was something in his presence, before which arrogant preten- 
sion drooped and withered like a plant without root in the 
rays of the sun ; whilst modest merit felt assured of his coun^ 
tenance and encouragement. In the society of those who had 
his respect and confidence, his manners exhibited a most happy 
blending of dignity with afiability ; of that easy simplicity 



33 

which accompanies the higliest refinement, with a statehness 
neither unnatural nor unbecomini^ in one of his descent, and 
great mental powers. His feehngs and principles of action 
were all of the most generous character. His were " high 
thoughts seated in a heart of courtesy,'' He possessed a lofty 
independence of spirit, which never permitted him to seek 
wealth, influence, or favor, by any but the most direct and 
honorable means ; and his reputation for integrity of purpose 
and uprightness of practice was as unsullied at the close, as at 
the commencement, of his long professional career. 

I have thus presented to you a slight sketch of the character 
of this great lawyer, without exaggeration, and without rheto- 
rical ornament. The simple grandeur of such a character 
repels every attempt at embellishment. He was a man to 
whom this State and this country should be, proud of having 
given birth. This Institution is most especially bound to 
cherish his memory : not only as one who himself reflected 
peculiar lustre upon his Alma Mater, and was for thirt^r-seven 
years a faithful protector of her interests ; but as a member of a 
fomily by whom she has been watched with unintermitted 
guardian care from her cradle : as the grandson of one whose 
hand was generously extended to support her feeble steps in 
infancy : as the son of one who was numbered in the first 
class of her graduates ; who honored her by a life of distin- 
guished reputation and usefulness, and by the death of a mar- 
tyr in the cause of liberty ; who was her never failing friend 
at home, and her most powerful advocate abroad ; and whose 
in#uence procured for her, in the presidency of a Witherspoon, 
a benefit which she can never cease to feel, and for which she 
should never cease to be grateful. 



39 

ANDREW KIRKPATRICK, who was a Trustee of this 
College from the year 1809 until the period of his death, and 
who was one of the Vice Presidents of the Alnmnij received 
his degree of Bachelor of Arts in the year 1775 ; and having 
been educated with a special view to the ministry in the Scotch 
Presbyterian church, he commenced the study of theology : 
but at the end of the first year, he determined to relinquish >t 
for the profession of the law. He exhibited on this critical 
occasion an evidence of that determined spirit, which was des- 
tined to carry him through more than ordinary diffkalties to 
the highest professional eminence. He was informed that the 
step he contemplated could only be taken at the expence o-f 
his father's favor, and of the pecuniary support which had 
been liberally extended to him. His resolution, however, had 
been deliberately taken ■ and notwithstanding the veneration, 
not unmixed with awe, with which he had always been ac- 
customed to regard the injunction of a parent, who appears to 
have united a real regard for the best interests of his son with 
great inflexibility of opinion and sternness of character, he 
hesitated not, on this important occasion which involved the 
destinies of his life, to forfeit even his father's countenance and 
protection^ and to enter upon his favorite pursuit, relying for 
subsistence upon his own extraordinary and unaided exertion?. 
He fortunately beccme a student in the office of William Pater- 
son, one of the first lawyers of his day ; under whom he prose- 
secuted legal studies with great diligence, while to procure the 
necessaries of life he was compelled to devote all the time 
that could be spared for the purpose to the teachingof a schocl. 
He was admitted to the bar in 1785, where talents of a high 
order, aided by the energy of his character and the most per- 



40 

severing industry, soon obtained for him a lucrative practice. 
In 1797, after having been but twelve years at the bar, he was 
appointed an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
state ; and in 1803 he was advanced to the office of Chief Jus- 
tice^ to which he was twice re-elected, and which he continued 
to hold for twenty-one years. No one could enter the court in 
which he sat without being struck by his extraordinary perso- 
nal presence. He w^as the heau ideal oi a minister of justice. 
No powdered wig or ermined robe was required to excite reve- 
rence for the bench on which he presided. His snow-white 
hair, his clear florid complexion, his dark lustrous eye, his 
strong but delicately chiselled features, the expression of gravity 
and firmness blended with a placid sweetness in his counte- 
nance, his imposing form, and the easy graceful dignity with 
which he discharged his judicial duties, arrested the attention 
of the most ignorant and thoughtless, and inspired the beholder 
with a respect approaching to awe. His enunciation was slow 
and distinct ; his voice full and musical ; and his opinions, 
when not previously prepared, were delivered with fluency 
and clearness; v/hen written, the language in which they 
were clothed v/as marked by great purity and precision. But 
it was not only in these external qualities of a judge, important 
as they are, that he excelled. He was a learned, and in regard 
to real estate a profoundly learned, lawyer. It is said by the 
late Charles Butler, one of the most eminent jurists of his day, 
that he is the best lawyer, and will succeed best in his profes- 
sion, who best understands Coke upon Lyttleton. Few mem- 
bers of the profession have studied those great writers more 
diligently, or comprehended their works more thoroughly, than 
the late Chief Justice of whom I am speaking : and upon many 



41 

of the difficult questions respecting title to land which came 
before him for adjudication in the course of his long official 
career, his opinions exhibit a depth of research, a familiarity 
with leading principles, a clearness of comprehension, a power 
of discrimination, and a justness of reasoning, which upon 
such questions secured him the particular confidence of the 
bar, and entitled him to rank among the first American jurists. 
His mind was not rapid, but it was uncommonly exact ; and 
the want of quickness was carefully supplied by unwearying 
application to the object of investigation. His frequent re-elec- 
tion to the bench by the representatives of the people of the 
State, unaffected by the mutations of party, sets the seal of 
public opinion to his impartial administration of justice, the 
general integrity of his character, and the ability with which 
his duties were performed. He passed the last few years of 
his life retired from public employment ; and died leaving a 
name which will always be conspicuous in the juridical annals 
of New Jersey. 

The brethren whose characters I have thus briefly and im- 
perfectly sketched died at an advanced age ; all of them, save 
one, after having passed the verge of man's allotted existence. 
He of whom I am now to speak was cut off in the prime of a 
life of great activity and usefulness. It was not the natural 
decay of a venerable and time-worn edifice, over which his 
friends and his country were called to mourn ; but the sudden 
fall of a noble column, standing but yesterday firm upon its 
base, pointing in lofty and beautiful proportion to the skies, 
now broken in the midst and precipitated to the earth. The 
name of JOHN HENRY HOBART, the late Bishop of the 

diocese of New York, brings to the recollection a rare assem- 

6 



42 

blage of virtues and talents. Possessed of powers which would 
have made him great in almost any situation, in the senate, 
the forum, or the field ; and which, had they been exerted 
solely with a view to his own aggrandizement, might have 
filled the world with his fame ; he laid them in self-denying 
humility at tlie foot of tlie cross. Deeply imbued with the 
spirit of religion from his youth, his whole life was a series of 
unremitted efforts for its establishment and extension. Every 
object was viewed and estimated in reference to that greatest 
of all interests : and however many may have differed from 
him in opinion as to the means by which it was most effec- 
tually to be promoted, no one who had an opportunity of ob- 
serving him in those private and unguarded moments which 
afford the best criterion of real character, and who has read 
the secret and confidential communications of his early years, 
which have been published since his death, can doubt for a 
moment that his heart was sincerely and ardently engaged in 
the service to which his life was devoted. He possessed the 
first and most indispensable qualification for his sacred profes- 
sion, a sincere love of its duties ; a cordial consecration of 
himself, soul and body, to the cause of his Divine Master. 
Added to this he had almost every quality of heart and mind, 
which is fitted, in the absence of direct inspiration, to render 
the minister of Christ successful in his high and holy vocation. 
He was gifted by nature with extraordinary endowments. To 
a strong and remarkably correct judgment, he united a lively 
imagination, and an exquisite sensibility. How often is genius 
like his made an excuse for enervating indolence, or perverted 
and abused to the injury of its possessor and of his fellow men ! 
But the distinguished person of whom I am speaking was 



43 

seriously impressed, almost from his cradle, with the conscious- 
ness that he was one day to render a solemn account of the 
talents with which he was entrusted. Acting under this im- 
pression, he suffered no opportunity to escape of cultivating 
his natural faculties or acquiring useful knowledge. No one 
ever appreciated more highly, or reaped more diligently, the 
inestimable advantages afforded by the venerable seat of learn- 
ing within whose precincts it is our happiness this day to have 
assembled : advantages, over the neglect of which many a tear 
of bitter remorse has been shed. The high honor with which 
he graduated, attests his diligent attention to his college stu- 
dies : and I feel assured that every member of the American 
Whig Society whom I now address, will bear me witness, that 
of the many, very many great men who with feelings of pride 
and gratitude trace back much of their success in life to the 
secret benefits of that association, few, if any, have evinced a 
more ardent and devoted attachment to its interests, or reflected 
upon it a more brilliant lustre. Having completed the regular 
term of study, and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, he 
still fondly lingered, year after year, in these classic shades ; 
unwilling to leave the calm delights of literary retirement, and 
those opportunities of improvement which he was sensible he 
could never elsewhere enjoy to the same extent. But the season 
of necessary preparation being past, his duty called him to 
more active scenes ; and tearing himself away from the tran- 
quil charms of college life, he hastened to the field of active 
service, in which he was never to know repose but upon his 
arms. Of his eminent usefulness to the church of which at 
the early age of thirty-five he was consecrated a bishop, and of 
his brilliant success in the accomplishment of the designs 



44 

which he thought best calculated to promote her prosperity, it 
would be useless for me to speak. The immense diocese over 
which he presided at his death, and which, from [its rapid 
growth under his administration, has since been necessarily 
divided, is filled with monuments of his almost apostolical 
zeal. The Protestant Episcopal Church throughout America 
resounds with his praises, which are echoed back by the Epis- 
copal Churches of England and Scotland, In every quarter 
of our country his name and fame are known : many who 
were once his warmest opponents have been led to acknow- 
ledge the soundness of his views : and thousands, who never 
acquiesced in his religious opinions, have felt and expressed a 
just pride that America has produced such a man.. 

If I were called upon to name the most striking trait of his 
character, I should unhesitatingly pronounce it to be his mora^ 
courage: that great virtue, without which all other virtues 
are frequently useless. To fear in the discharge of his duty 
he was an entire stranger. He was a bold and faithful soldier 
of the cross. Dangers and difficulties which would have ap- 
palled ordinary men had no terrors for him. Whatever might 
be the number or the power of his adversaries, he met them 
with an unfaltering step and an unblenching courage. If that 
portion of the Christian domain which was entrusted to his 
care were threatened with assault, he waited not for followers , 
nor did he ask the strength of the enemy; but seizing the ban- 
ner of (Christ and the Church, he flew to the raixjparts ; and as 
he was the first to advance, so his opponents will bear testi- 
mony that he was the last to retire. But though, when sudden 
danger surprised him, he met it with the courage of an apostle 
and the self devotion of a martyr, his bravery was without the 



least tincture of rashness. Where time was allowed him for 
deliberation, no man was more careful in his preparation for 
defence or attack ; and none adapted his means more skilfully 
to the end to be accomplished. 

The appearance of rashness which his measures sometimes 
assumed to the eye of the superficial observer, was owing to 
another remarkable trait ot his character — ike jirodigious 
rapidity of his mental and physical movements. His acute 
vision penetrated the most gnarled questions with the quick- 
ness of lightning: and with him action was almost as rapid 
as thought. The shortest conceivable time intervened between 
the first suggestion of an object to his mind and its accomplish- 
ment. Such were the promptness of his determination and 
the instantaneousness of his action, that his opponents were 
often surprised by the complete execution of a purpose which 
they were yet thinking upon the means of frustrating. The 
quickness of his mental operations extended to the acquisition 
of knowledge ; and though the active duties which pressed 
upon hira from the beginning to the close of his professional 
life, left him little time for study, his controversial opponents 
never found him unprepared. He extracted at a glance all 
that was most valuable in an author ; and he was equally 
ready in deriving instruction from passing events, and from 
his intercourse with the world. All that he thus obtained his 
retentive memory treasured up for use ; and he applied it with 
promptness and dexterity upon the most sudden emergency. 

Another prominent characteristic was his far-reaching 
vision. His perception of future and remote events seemed in 
some instances almost like the inspiration of a seer. But the 
means of his prescience were perfectly natural and §imple. He 



46 

used, with great care and skill, the only telescope which since 
the days of the prophets Providence has vouchsafed to man 
for looking into the future — the application of general princi- 
ples tested and confirmed by past experience. His mental eye, 
strong in itself, being thus assisted, penetrated the distant ob- 
scure ; and saw, with clearness and distinctness, objects which 
were hid from the common view until they were brought 
nearer by the revolution of time. No project ever received his 
sanction merely from its temporary success, or from its promise 
■of temporary utility. No sooner was it proposed to him, than 
his keen gaze was directed to its remote, as well as to its imme- 
diate, results. -He tried it by the rule of which I have spoken ; 
and if, when weighed in the balance of soimd principles, it 
were found wanting, he rejected it at once, as being the more 
dangerous and likely to work greater injury from its momen- 
tary success. He had seen many a tree send up its branches 
for a season with surprising luxuriance, which had neverthe- 
less a defect at the root ; and he had observed that the early 
ripening of its fruits was but a symptom of its speedy decay. 
He knew that the most deadly heresies that had infested the 
moral world, had. for purposes inscrutable to us, been permitted 
by Providence for a while to flourish with all the freshness 
and beauty of truth ; and he saw that Heaven had thus set the 
seal of its prohibition upon that species of reasoning, which 
would infer the divine favor from mere temporary prosperity. 

Possessing in a high degree the qualities which fit a man to 
be a leader, courage, promptness of thought and action, and a 
far-seeing sagacity, it is not surprising that another prominent 
feature of his character was an extraordinary poiver over the 
minds of men. However adverse his opinions or his pohcy 



47 

might be to the fashion or prejudices of the day, or to the gene- 
ral current of pubHc sentiment, he had but to set up his stan- 
dard, and followers flocked around it. Such was the confi- 
dence inspired by the general soundness of his judgment, and 
his activity and perseverance in the accomplishment of his 
designs, that, within the sphere of his episcopal jurisdiction, 
opposition to liis principles or policy was, during the latter 
years of his life, entirely hopeless. Surrounded by men of 
eminent abilities in their respective pursuits, and of unques- 
tioned independence of mind, his judgment upon matters which 
came within his province was in most cases supreme, with 
laity as well as clergy ; and was deferred to without contra- 
diction. But if his opinions were questioned, then the flood- 
gates of tis eloquence were opened ; and opposition was over- 
whelmed by a torrent of argument, or borne gently away upon 
the smoother current of persuasion. In public or in private, 
no one can have listened to him when his sensibility was ex- 
cited, without feeling that he was, in the highest sense of the 
term, an orator. In the pulpit, his manner was solemn and 
impressive, as became the subjects upon which he discoursed : 
k was always earnest and animated, and at times highly im- 
passioned. His voice was singularly powerful and melodious ; 
and in its rich variety a tone was found for every feeling of 
the human breast. No description can convey an idea of the 
thrilling effect which was occasionally given to some single 
passage of a discourse by his manner of delivery. A striking 
sentiment, clothed in simple language, was not only sent di- 
rectly home to the conscience, but burnt in, as it were, upon 
the heart, so that no lapse of time or change of circBmstanees 
could ever obliterate the impression. But his eloquence in the 



48 

pulpit was exceeded by that which he displayed in extempora- 
neous debate, or serious conversation, upon a subject which 
interested his feelings. The diffuseness of style and repetition 
of tho'Ug-ht which sometimes detracted from the strength of his 
written discourses, had no- existence in his unstudied appeals ; 
and the arguments which on such occasions he threw forth in 
rapid succession, glowing with the fervor of excited feeling, 
overcame all resistance, and achieved an easy victory. His 
talents, however, g-reat as they were, contributed not more to 
his success in transfusing his opinions into the minds of others, 
than the silent but powerful influence of his private character. 
His candor and independence of spirit, his moral uprightness, 
his benevolence of disposition, his acts of charity, his courteous 
and afHible deportment, were so many pioneers to op*;n a pas- 
sage for him to the understandings and hearts of those whom 
he was anxious to convince. 

But of his private and domestic virtues, which inspired the 
lore and confidence of all v/ho knew him, it is not my purpose 
at present to speak. The remembrance of them was seen in 
the flood of grief which overwhelmed his friends, and the gene- 
ral gloom that pervaded the city of his residence, at the news 
of his unexpected death. It was seen in the long funeral pro- 
cession, composed of all classes and denominations, winding 
its slov/ and solemn way, through crowds of mourning citizens, 
to that holy temple where for thirty years he had ministered 
in holy things. It was seen in the tears that bathed the coun- 
tenances of the congregation of his people, assembled, at the 
hour Oi twilight, amid the Gothic gloom of that venerable edi- 
iice, to witness the performance of the last sad rites over the 
remains of their late pastor and bishop. The qualities which 



49 

endeared him to the vast circle in which he moved were the 
fruits of a most amiahle natural temper, and of that faith which 
was his guide and consolation in life, his light through "the 
grav« and gate of death," and his title, we may humbly trust, 
through the merits and mediation of his Redeemer, to that 
crown in Heaven, which is promised to those who are "faith- 
fal unto the end." 

I have thus pointed out to your notice some of the leading 
characteristics of our deceased brethren. In doing so I feel 
that I have made an unreasonable requisition upon your time 
and patience : but I trust that you will bear with me one mo- 
ment longer, while I say to our young friends who are stand- 
ing upon the threshold of active life — imitate their virtues. 
Seek, by all honorable means, the distinction to which they 
attained ; not for its own sake, but as a means of being useful 
to your fellow men. It is only in this regard, that honor or 
applause is worth the pursuit. There is no greater delusion 
than the expectation of happiness from mere eminence of sta- 
tion. It was said by Pope Adrian the Fourth, (and general 
experience attests the correctness of the sentiment,) that though 
he had risen by degrees from the lowest lo the highest dignity 
in the world, he had never found that any of those elevations 
made the least addition to his happiness. Thousands have 
felt what Cardinal Wolsey so afFectingly expressed, when he 
said to the attendant of his dying bed : "If I had served my 
God with half the zeal with which I have served my king, he 
would not have given me over in my gray hairs." It is espe- 
cially true in this country, where every ofUcer is but the ser- 
vant of the people, that the labor and care which are the inse- 
parable attendants of high station, far overbalance Ihc personal 



60 

gratification which it affords to a selfish ambition. It is only in 
reference to another and more enduring state of ekistence, that 
any man can be said to be really great: and it is only through 
the opportunity it affords for the enlarged cultivation and exer- 
cise of those virtues which are of heavenly origin, and which 
will continue to bloom and expand long after this transitory 
life shall have ended, that worldly distinction can confer either 
true glory or substantial happiness. The brightest career of 
the most gifted genius, who in his pursuit of power and praise 
elevates not his thoughts above this changeful and perishing 
world, is but the flash of a meteor, which dazzles the eye for a 
moment and then disappears in darkness. Let it be your aspi- 
ration, radiant with light immortal, to " shine as the brightness 
of the fi,rmament," and " as the stars for ever and ever." 






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